My Booklist

Ok, this may be the most indulgent part of my web page, but there is really an outside chance people are interested in what I'm reading. I have these books linked to Amazon.com. I have mixed feelings about them. I generally don't buy from them because I feel they are helping to kill the independent booksellers. On the other hand, I do use them for reviews when I'm considering buying a book, and I've written a few reviews myself. By the way I used to list these with the newest books on the bottom; I've reversed that now.

This Just In: I'm sure I'm not alone in this but I make all sorts of references from classic books I haven't read. I keep thinking I need to read them, and I've started a list at tshe bottom of this page. I don't have them linked to Amazon as I imagine they are books everyone knows about.

On Deck Circle

• Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

Current Reads

• The Big Short: Inside the Doomesday Machine by Michael Lewis
• Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter

Recent Reads:

2010

• New York by Edward Rutherford
• Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson
• The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
• The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier
• Conquering Fear: Living Boldly in an Uncertain World by Harold Kushner
• A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop" by Rebert Weekland, OSB
• The God Box: Hope Strength Courage @ Your Fingertips by Lynn Neu
• Gwenhwyfar by Mercedes Lackey

2009

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man's Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand by Andrew Gottlieb
• The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
• Freedomland by Richard Price
• Genghis : Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
• As They See Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires by Bruce Weber
• The Visibles by Sara Shepard
• One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food by Michael Schaffer
• Almost Home by Pam Jenoff
• Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths by Régine Pernoud
• John of the Cross by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD
• Rabbit, Run By John Updike
• I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing by Kyria Abrahams
• Almost Home by Pam Jenoff
• A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
• The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci
• The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
• Autism' s False Prophets by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
• The Little Book by Selden Edwards
• The Crowd Sounds Happy by Nicholas Dawidoff
• Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman

2008

• Aelre of Rievaulx by John R. Sommerfeldt
• The Rhino With Glue-On Shoes edited by Lucy H. Spelman DVM and Ted Y. Mashima DVM
• Genghis: Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden
• Mortally Wounded by Michael Kearney
• Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss
• Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathon Eig
• A Hidden Wholeness: Toward an Undivided Life by Parker Palmer
• Kauai: The Separate Kingdom by Edward Joesting
• Too Soon To Say Goodbye by Art Buchwald
• The Happiest Days of Our Lives by Wil Wheaton
• Old Men Dream by Peter Fullerton
• Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope by Jimmy Carter
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beacher Stowe
• God in the White House: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush by Randall Balmer
• Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD
• 90 Minutes in Heaven: An Inspiring Story of Life Beyond Death by Don Piper and Cecil Murphy
• Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
• Emporer: Time's Tapestry Book One by Stephen Baxter
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
• Harold the King by Helen Hollick

2007

• Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War and the Aftermath as Seen by NPR's Correspondent Anne Garrels by Anne Garrels and Vint Lawrence
• I Live For This: Baseball's Last True Believer by Tommy Lasorda and Bill Plaschke
• Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
• World Without End by Ken Follett
• A Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs
• No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell
• New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
• The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
• < em>Is This a Great Game or What? by Tim Kurkjian
• Genghis: Birth Of An Empire by Conn Iggulden
• The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, The Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught by Marcus Stern, Jerry Kammer, Dean Calbreth, and George E. Condon, Jr.
• The Rosetti Letter by Christi Phillips
• Marley and Me by John Grogan
• Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
• Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriquez
• The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
• About My Sisters by Debra Ginsberg
• The Death and Life of Bobby Z by Don Winslow
• My Seven Years in Captivity: Tails and Misadventures in the San Diego Zoo by Bill Seaton
• The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
• Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter
• Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg
• The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
• A History of the End of the World by Jonathon Kirsch
• Flu by Gina Kolata
• The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell

2006

• Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer
• Selected Writings in Anglo-Saxon Spirituality by Robert Boenig
• Heat by Bill Buford
• Digging to America by Ann Tyler
• The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong
• Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
• Absolute Convictions by Eyan Press
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks
• Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope by Joan Chichester
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

2005

• A History of God: The 4000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong
• Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
• Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
• The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter
• Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda
• War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution by Peter Irons
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman
• Ithaka by Adèle Geras
• Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong
• The Patriots Club by Christopher Reich
• Heloise and Abelard: A New Biography by James Burge
• The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball by Frank DeFord (note: this is autographed; I met Frank at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival in April 2005).
• Marshall's Journey by Vailia Dennis
• Dear Senator by Essie Mae Washington-Williams and William Stadiem
• The Source by James Michener. (note: this was a re-read; I read it for the first time around 1992 or so).
• Mountains Beyond Mountans by Tracy Kidder
• The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
• Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France by Peter Mayle
• Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton
• The Last Season: A Team In Search Of Its Soul by Phil Jackson and Michael Arkush
• A Good Year by Peter Mayle
• Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell
• Ball Four by Jim Bouton
• Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss
• Letter From Home by Carolyn Hart
• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
• A Short History of Nearly Everthing by Bill Bryson
• Hanging Curve by Troy Soos
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Michael Haddon
• Fat Man Fed Up by Jack Germond
• The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Bleachers by John Grisham
• How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
• Good Grief by Lolly Winston
• The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd
• The Amature Marriage by Anne Tyler
• The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
• Brinkley's Beat:People, Places, and Events That Shaped My Life by David Brinkley
• Krakatoa by Simon Winchester
• Dragon's Lair by Sharon Kay Penman
• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
• The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
• The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
• Jester by James Patterson
• The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
• Moneyball by Michael Lewis
• Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels
• Patrick by Stephen R. Lawhead
• The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
• Why is the Foul Pole Fair? by Vince Staten
• The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda Monk
• Merlin by Stephen R. Lawhead
• The Accidental Pope by Ray Flynn and Robin More
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
• The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Hotel Kid: A Times Square Childhood by Stephen Lewis
• Summerland by Michael Chabon
• Hawaii by James Michener
• Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
• A Grace Disguised by Gerald L. Sittser
• Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History by James Carroll
• John Adams by David McCullough
• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: a Novel by Louise Erdrich.
• Sarah: Woman of Genesis by Orson Scott Card.
• WITSEC: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program by Pete Earley and Gerald Shur.
• Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Classics I feel I should read:

• The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville (I tried to read this in college and gave up after about 100 pages)

Here are my favorite bookstores in and around San Diego:

Bay Books

Mysterious Galaxy

UCSD Bookstore

Upstart Crow

Warwick's